Romney Campaign Goes On Voter Blitz For 'Super Saturday'

Posted by Political Quarterback17pc on July 06, 2012

Mitt Romney's campaign is pretending Saturday is the day before Election Day.

In the first of a series of massive volunteer mobilization efforts, the campaign and the Republican Party will undertake "Super Saturday," a day when GOP volunteers call and canvass hundreds of thousands of swing-state voters, just as they will before Nov. 6.

The goal is not just to know which voters are on board with Romney, but to test the presidential campaign's ability to turn out the vote — something the GOP struggled with in 2008.

The GOP will run these Saturday tests once a month. The information is used as the campaign progresses to guide decisions such as where to deploy volunteers, where to focus early-voting turnout efforts, and which areas have the most undecided voters.

In 2008, Republicans made 28 million voter contacts, Wiley said. That jumped to 44 million in 2010, a number that he says this year's effort will exceed.

Republicans have a formidable opponent in the Obama campaign, which has reactivated its volunteer network from 2008, opened dozens of offices in swing states and is running full tilt on social media. The campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

"In Northern Virginia you cannot go out and not trip over an Obama GOTV effort, and that should scare the Republicans," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist.